Low fat, high fiber childhood diet may lower risk chronic disease

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM) shows that lower intake of total fat and saturated fat and higher intake of fiber as a child may lower fasting plasma glucose levels and lower systolic blood pressure later in life. A Western dietary pattern high in total fat and saturated fatty acids and refined grains is associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of metabolic abnormalities that include abdominal obesity, low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sometimes considered “good cholesterol”), higher levels of triglycerides and blood glucose, and elevated blood pressure.

“This research is important because it suggests that modest reductions in total fat and saturated fat intake and increased consumption of dietary fiber during childhood and adolescence may have beneficial effects later in life by decreasing risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease,” said Joanne Dorgan of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pa. and lead author of the study.

The researchers evaluated 230 women between the ages of 25 and 29 years, who nine years before the current study participated in the Dietary Intervention Study in Children (DISC). DISC was a randomized controlled clinical trial of a reduced-fat dietary intervention that strived to limit fat intake to 28% of daily caloric intake and increase dietary fiber intake by encouraging consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The current study was conducted among females who had participated in the DISC trial to determine the longer-term effects of the DISC intervention.

“Few participants in our follow-up study met the criteria for metabolic syndrome, however, the intervention group had statistically significant lower mean systolic blood pressure and fasting plasma glucose levels compared to the control group,” said Dorgan. “Significant differences at the follow-up visit, but not earlier, suggest that adolescent diet may have long-term effects on age-related changes in blood pressure and glycemic control that begin to become apparent in young adulthood. Longer follow-up studies of DISC participants are needed to determine if the differences found in this study persist or widen with increasing age.”